Come away and listen

to the still, small voice

singing His love song over you

Learning to listen together

Spiritual direction provides an opportunity to step away from the fast-paced, frantic world for a moment and create some space to listen. Attuning ourselves specifically to God’s movement in your life. As we carve out this time to be present to his voice, we invite him to come and uniquely speak into the places of your heart that only he can. Let’s learn to listen together.

“God of Shelter,

Clear a place of sacred rest,

For my strength is failing.

Shelter me from every fear,

Real or imagined.

Slow my hummingbird heart.

Steer each coming storm

Away from this quiet place

Where, tucked into your arms,

I am hidden in your love.”

— Kate Bowler

FAQs

  • Spiritual Direction is an opportunity to meet with a trained spiritual director and spend an hour in conversation and listening prayer together, asking the Holy Spirit to guide and speak into your current spiritual journey – a noticing of God’s presence in the circumstances. It is a confidential place to seek, question, confess, lament and affirm your walk with God.

  • Spiritual direction is not pastoral counseling, coaching or mentoring as it does not seek to solve a problem or provide guidance with a specific agenda in mind.

    Spiritual direction differs from these valuable ministries primarily in its focus: the intention in spiritual direction is not to help solve a problem, but rather to look for God’s activity within any problems and within the rest of the person’s life experience.

    This perspective invites you into deeper relationship with God in the midst of whatever you are experiencing. Spiritual direction is designed to compliment rather than compete with these other vital ministries within the Body of Christ.

  • For those, like me, who appreciate clarity and details, here is an example of what a session might look like:

    Whether meeting in-person or via Zoom, we’ll begin the session time greeting one another and lighting a candle to represent God with us.

    I’ll beginning with a short passage of Scripture to help us become still and attentive to the Holy Spirit’s active presence. Then offer a prayer for our time.

    When you're ready, you begin sharing what's on your heart and mind. A good starting point is “How have you been experiencing God’s presence?” or sometimes simply, “What is bothering you?”

    The latter guards against the conversation being “spiritual” in an idealistic or intellectual way and promotes it being real and authentic to your actual life.

    Together in sacred trust we listen and respond to how the Holy Spirit seems to be working in you and with you. When helpful, I may offer a question you can contemplate or bring home with you to continue exploring with God in your day-to-day prayer life.

    Sessions are usually one hour once a month. They can be in person or virtual.

  • I am currently in Year One of Selah, a two-year training program through Leadership Transformation to become a certified Anglican Spiritual Director .

    At this time, I am accepting directees who are willing to partner with me through my training portion of the program. My sessions are therefore free-of-charge while I am in training.

    Please reach out to me via the contact form to receive more information or schedule a session. Thank you for partnering with me as we learn to listen together!

  • "It is easier to find guides, someone to tell you what to do, than someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship as you work it out yourself. This is what spiritual direction is."

    Eugene Peterson

  • "Growing in faith requires a growing attentiveness to perceive where God is active and to where we are being led. One of the key questions in overcoming spiritual deafness and blindness is: Where is God active in my life or community right now?"

    Henri Nouwen

  • "The opportunity to tell our story opens us to hear God's story more deeply - God's presence and participation in our lives and in the life of the world."

    Jeannette A. Bakke

  • "To receive spiritual direction is to recognize that God does not solve our problems or answer all our questions, but leads us closer to the mystery of our existence where all questions cease."

    Henri Nouwen